LSLPR: A Layering and Source-Location-Privacy-Based Routing Protocol for Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks

In recent years the research of source-location-privacy (SLP) in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) has become a hotspot while the research of SLP in underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs) is still in the primary stage. SLP is crucial in such fields as underwater resource exploration and underwater battlefield monitoring. In this article, a layering and SLP-based routing (LSLPR) protocol is proposed for UASNs. In the LSLPR protocol, proxy nodes and multipath technology are utilized to resist passive attacks and protect the SLP, and a source node can select its proxy node without knowing the location information of candidate proxy nodes in advance. Moreover, in the routing from a source to the proxy area, the next-hop node is determined according to the priorities of candidate nodes, which considers the distance and layer of the node to alleviate the long detour problem. In addition, a multipath routing algorithm based on the nodes layer and forwarding probability is proposed to avoid the void area problem and protect the SLP. Simulation results show the superiority and validity of the LSLPR protocol in terms of safety period, delay, and energy efficiency compared with the Push-based probabilistic method for source location privacy protection (PP-SLPP), stratification-based SLP (SSLP), and 2hop-AHH-VBF. The safe period increases by at least 72%. In addition, the delay is at least 90% lower than that of the PP-SLPP and SSLP. Furthermore, the energy consumption is about 50% lower than that of SSLP and 2hop-AHH-VBF.